Trade Group Issues Warning Regarding Huawei’s Secret Network of Chips
Huawei Technologies Co is building a collection of secret semiconductor manufacturing facilities across China to help the company bypass US sanctions, a Washington-based semiconductor association warned, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.
The Chinese tech giant moved into chip production last year and is receiving an estimated $30 billion in state funding from the government, the semiconductor industry association said, adding that Huawei has bought at least two existing factories and is building three more.
The US Department of Commerce added Huawei to its export control list in 2019 for security reasons. The company denies being a security risk.
If Huawei builds facilities under other companies’ names, as the Semiconductor Industry Association says, it may be able to circumvent U.S. government restrictions on indirectly buying American chip-making equipment, according to a Bloomberg report.
Huawei has been placed on a trade blacklist in the US, which prevents most suppliers from supplying goods and technology to the company unless they have been granted licenses. Authorities have continued to tighten controls to block the company’s ability to buy or design the semiconductor chips that use most of its products.
Huawei and the Semiconductor Industry Association did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
